Frequently Asked Questions about the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (As stated in ‘Witness in Palestine’)

FAQ #1: There are many terrible things happening around the world. Why should Americans care so much about this particular conflict?

Whether they know it or not, Americans are deeply involved in the Israel/Palestine conflict because they are Israel’s financial sponsors. US tax-payers are funding Israel’s aggression and therefore have a right and a responsibility to demand that those tax dollars not be used to violate international law and human rights.

The US government also perpetuates the conflict by preventing the United Nations from taking decisive action against Israel’s crimes. A University of Cambridge study found that the US veto has ensured that Israel enjoys “virtual immunity” from the enforcement measures typically adopted by the UN against countries committing identical violations of international law. (Chomsky, Fateful) According to President Carter: “The United Sates has used its U.N. Security Council veto more than forty times to block resolutions critical of Israel. Some of those vetoes have brought international discredit on the United Sates, and there is little doubt that the lack of a persistent effort to resolve the Palestinian issue is a major source of anti-American sentiment and terrorist activity throughout the Middle East and the Islamic world.”

FAQ #2: Why does the US continue to give Israel so much aid and political support?

The main reasons of US support of Israel can be summed up as follows:

1. The second most-powerful lobby in the US is the “Zionist lobby” (often mislabeled the “Jewish Lobby” even though it is composed of many non-Jews, and many Jews oppose it), led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). (Daniel Kurtzman, “AIPAC listed 2nd most powerful group on Fortune list”) Described in the New York Times as “the most important organization affecting America’s relationship with Israel,” (AIPAC homepage) AIPAC has more than 100,000 US members and an annual budget of as much as $40 million, which it uses to promote US policy aligned with Israeli interests. AIPAC has successfully defeated numerous senators who were perceived to be insufficiently pro-Israel. (Mitchell Kaidy, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs) Senator William Fulbright wrote in The Price of Empire: “AIPAC … and its allied organizations have effective working control of the electoral process. They can elect or defeat nearly any congressman or senator that they wish, with their money and coordinated organization”. University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer and Harvard professor Stephen Walt published a controversial article entitled “The Israel Lobby,” outlining various ways in which the lobby’s control over US policies actually functions to detriment of US strategic interests.

2. Some argue that the US would never pursue another country’s interests above its own and that US support for Israel is due to the countries’ twin interests in military and spin-off development projects and the storage and base facilities that Israel provides for US forces targeting oil-rich countries in the region. Still others believe that it is a combination of the Zionist Lobby and US strategic interests that perpetuates US support for Israeli violations of international law.

3. No small number of American industries are profiting from US support for Israel. Most notable among those are US arms manufacturers. In addition to American weapons that are donated to Israel, two-thirds of US financial aid to Israel is earmarked for purchase of more US arms. Other groups profiting from the conflict include the oil industry, Arab leaders, and the US elected representatives who receive generous election donations for maintaining the status quo or increasing US unconditional support for Israel.

4. Finally, American public opinion about Israel tends to be sympathetic for two reasons: First, people are sensitive to the tragic plight of Jews throughout history. Against this historic backdrop, people are resistant to criticizing Israel and seeing Jews as anything other than the victims. Second, although American tax-payers give more foreign aid to Israel than to any other country in the world, many remain largely ignorant to the uses of this aid and therefore do nothing to change it. This is due in large part to what many perceive as a US mainstream media pro-Israel bias, which is documented extensively by the organization If Americans Knew. One of the group’s studies found that the Associated Press reported deaths of Israeli children more often than occurred but failed to cover 85% of the deaths of Palestinian children. Another study on the San Francisco Chronicle made 30 mentions of Israeli children dying for every 20 who died (i.e., some deaths were reported more than once), but reported on only 1 in 20 deaths of Palestinian children. Studies on the New York Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, and other media sources revealed similar trends. Stories about torture, hunger strikes, Israeli refuseniks, and the Palestinian nonviolence movement were grossly underreported. As long as Americans remain ignorant of Israeli’s atrocities, they are unlikely to pressure their government to stop funding them.